Doughfaces

The Doughfaces was a faction of the Democratic Party which existed from 1847 to 1865. The faction consisted of northern Democrats who sympathized with southern views on slavery and states' rights, and the term comes from John Randolph of Roanoke's accusation that the northerners who supported the Missouri Compromise had "doe faces" (coming from the doe, a weak animal which he hunted); this term was later turned into "doughfaces", meaning that they could be malleable. Presidents Franklin Pierce and James Buchanan were Doughfaces, as they were accused of siding with the radically pro-slavery Southern Democrats against the more moderate northern Democrats. By 1860, the Doughfaces such as Stephen A. Douglas had become alienated from the Southern Democrats when they tried to prevent a slavery referendum from being held until a territory prepared for its statehood application.